1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to system and methods for providing modular home-networking communication and, more specifically, to a modular home network communications system which employs a common physical layer modulation and a common media access protocol which are compatible with disparate communication channels such as radio frequency (RF) and powerline communication channels, and a method for implementing the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, one of the newest trends in the personal computer (PC) industry involves Home Networking. Specifically, the ability to inexpensively and reliably interconnect multiple computers, peripherals, and/or appliances within a home without having to install ethernet or twisted pair backbone wiring is a strongly desired goal for home networking device OEMs. In furtherance of this goal, both wireless solutions and powerline solutions have been considered as the physical layer backbone for the home network system.
Conventional powerline networks generally operate with data rates ranging from about 10 kbps to 350 kbps. For example, one such system, which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,106 to Propp, et al. entitled "Powerline Communication Apparatus", operates at a data rate of 100 kbps using a complicated equalizer/coding scheme. The disadvantage with this system, however, is its low data rate and its high implementation complexity which results in excessive costs. It has recently been determined that a 350 kbps powerline network system based on traditional frequency modulation (FM) methods such as binary frequency shift keying (BFSK) may be achieved. However, system performance will degrade as the data rate increases past 350 kbps in a time dispersive/noisy communication channel such as the powerline channel. Indeed, for applications such as remote printing and file sharing, it is desirable to operate with a data rate of at least 1 Mbps. Consequently, a modulation system for use in a powerline communication channel which is inexpensive and can easily be implemented, and which operates with a data rate in the range of 1 Mbps, is highly desirable.
Next, although conventional wireless network communication systems generally operate at a maximum data rate of around 2 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) frequency band, these systems can be very costly. Notwithstanding its potentially high cost, a wireless network communication system advantageously provide mobility to the network device and as such, may be the preferred network infrastructure if mobility is a priority for the end user.
In view of the advantages and disadvantages discussed above for both the wireless and powerline network solutions, it is not clear that one single solution, either wireless or powerline, will provide the optimum network technology to meet the need of a wide range of disparate users. Therefore, there currently exists a strong need in the PC home-networking industry to provide a versatile home-networking architecture using a common baseline technology which can support both powerline interconnect and wireless interconnect architecture, and which is inexpensive and easily implementable.